Listening to and Actioning Stakeholder Feedback
Leave Your Ego at The Door – Listening to and Actioning Stakeholder Feedback
Four months ago, we implemented the most far-reaching overhaul of the Geneos documentation in our 21-year history. As part of an iterative plan we’ve committed to deliver to our customers, it focused on improving the ‘consumability’ and usefulness of the Geneos online help.
The first iteration was hard work, often difficult, and almost always stressful, so when it went out the door in November it was only human to want to sit back and enjoy – even for just a moment – the warm glow of knowing that we’d delivered on our promise. But the reality was somewhat different: there’s much more to do, we’ve only just started the journey, and our stakeholders want it yesterday.
Knowing all along that we were never going to be able to take our foot off the gas, we had started planning the second iteration before the first was even out the door. Crucially, though, we waited for our stakeholders to spend time in the new help, then in January we actively sought their feedback. And herein lies the kicker: stakeholder feedback is typically brutal and can often be tough to hear.
“I don’t like this…”, “I want this…”, “This company does it better…” and “Why doesn’t it work like this?”, are common refrains.
While the ‘emotional you’ thinks, “Wow, a ‘thanks’ would be nice!”, the ‘logical you’ realises that there’s no place for ego in such discourse. You’ve got to take this feedback onboard. You’ve got to accept that it will sometimes feel like the hard work you and the team have put in is not appreciated. And you’ve got to make sure you don’t take anything personally.
So, we left our egos at the door. We listened and then planned our second iteration. We accepted that while we had done a lot of good, we have a very long way to go.
What does this all mean to our Geneos customers? It means that the second iteration (here) delivers a host of improvements, many prioritised based on stakeholder feedback. We’ve scaled down the visual elements so that more fits onto the page; further re-engineered the expansive Gateway Reference Guide; restructured the Netprobe topics; added new ‘smart’ syntax highlighting to code blocks; made the breadcrumbs ‘float’ at the top as you scroll through the topic; introduced technical updates and corrections to outdated content; and further refined the visual design of the topics. In all, it builds on the groundwork we delivered in November, and it should make life easier for our Gateway and Netprobe users.
So, please check it out and let us know what you think. Our egos are still at the door, we’re listening, and we’re ready to take your feedback onboard to plan for the third iteration (available in May). You can reach us here to tell us where you think we should be focusing.
